If you have already signed the petition to make all colleges in Cambridge living wage employers and want to do something more, we are currently looking for people to propose a motion at their JCR or MCR. A copy of this generic motion can be downloaded below, with just a few spaces for you to modify before it is ready for use. If you do propose it at your JCR, please be sure to let us know!

Please note, you can find the number of employees in your college who are paid less than the living wage (which forms one clause of the motion below) on the college league table page.

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Motion for affiliation to the Cambridge Living Wage Coalition

[X College JCR] notes:

1. That given high living costs in the Cambridge area, low wages, even though meeting the basic minimum wage level, can be insufficient for meeting basic needs and thus produce hardship;
2. The recent establishment and progress of the Cambridge Living Wage Coalition (Facebook: ‘You wouldn’t want less than six and a half’), an alliance of individuals, Cambridge student societies and students’ unions, campaigning for a living wage for Cambridge University and college employees of at least £6.50 per hour, a figure supported by UNISON;
3. The Freedom of Information requests carried out by the Cambridge University Labour Club to Cambridge colleges, which showed that over 1,000 employees across the colleges currently earn below the living wage, with [X (number) employees] below £6.50 in [X College];
4. The University of Cambridge’s 2006 pay settlement which will guarantee all University (but not college) employees a wage of at least £6.50 per hour in the near future;
5. Queen Mary’s, University of London, decision to become the UK’s first Living Wage Campus in 2006, following a successful campaign by student and other activists.

[X College JCR] believes:

1. That, following the University’s and QM’s lead, [X College] should adopt a living wage policy to pay all staff at least £6.50 per hour of work, excluding full time students;
2. That with the benefits brought to students through membership of the University come moral and social responsibilities;
3. That the aforementioned moral responsibilities include the duty to support University and college employees in their efforts to secure a decent standard of living relative to the society of which they are members;
4. That in addition to the moral case, a strong business case exists for colleges to pay a living wage, including the arguments that colleges paying the living wage may experience:
1. Lower staff turnover and therefore less waste associated with retraining;
2. Higher staff motivation, with resulting gains in productivity;
5. That [X College JCR’s] affiliation to the Cambridge Living Wage Coalition would provide additional weight to the Living Wage Campaign begun by University societies.

[X College JCR] resolves:

1. To officially affiliate to the Cambridge Living Wage Coalition;
2. To mandate the Executive Committee to draw the attention of college authorities to the Cambridge Living Wage Campaign and encourage them to consider making [X College] a Living Wage Employer.

Proposed: [name]

Seconded: [name]